Years ago, computer systems were stand-alone devices that did not communicate with each other. But today, computers are increasingly connected in networks and new devices are often added to the network, as the needs of users grow and change. Examples of these devices include servers, routers, clients, printers, storage devices, or other network-capable devices. When new devices are connected to a network, a variety of setup activities need to occur before the devices are ready for productive operation. These setup activities may include installing and testing various software programs and setting configuration parameters and data, not only at the new device but possibly at other pre-existing devices in the network as well. These setup activities often require one or more human experts to interact with the devices from one or more user interfaces in a defined order. These human experts often experience difficulty in coordinating their efforts. These difficulties can arise because the experts are not necessarily aware of each other, aware of the current state of the device, aware of the setup activities that have already been done, or aware of the setup activities that remain to be done, in order to prepare the device for productive use.
Thus, what is needed is a better technique for coordinating the setup activities performed by experts for installing a device in a network.